The Purpose of Military Loss
In accordance to Shia tradition, Husayn ibn Ali was offered help from the Jinn, who could have destroyed the forces of Yazid with ease. Husayn refused this offer saying: 'our aim is to sacrifice ourselves to save Islam and to influence the people to alter their own destinies by following true-Islam'. The Shia belief strongly states that Husayn's sacrifice was not a defeat but a victory. They define victory as achieving something that you aim for, rather than achieving a victory by defeating your opponent. Husayn aimed for sacrificing himself for Islam and to influence as many people as possible to alter their own destinies by following the true-path of Islam. As he achieved his goal, his sacrifice is a victory and not a defeat according to this definition of victory.
Read more about this topic: Zuhayr Ibn Qayn
Famous quotes containing the words purpose, military and/or loss:
“To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers, but extremely fit for a nation that is governed by shopkeepers.”
—Adam Smith (1723–1790)
“Personal prudence, even when dictated by quite other than selfish considerations, surely is no special virtue in a military man; while an excessive love of glory, impassioning a less burning impulse, the honest sense of duty, is the first.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Parents must not only have certain ways of guiding by prohibition and permission; they must also be able to represent to the child a deep, an almost somatic conviction that there is a meaning to what they are doing. Ultimately, children become neurotic not from frustrations, but from the lack or loss of societal meaning in these frustrations.”
—Erik H. Erikson (20th century)